BUFFALO, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo will honor some
of Western New York’s most inventive minds and companies at
the annual UB Inventors and Entrepreneurs Reception, which takes
place on March 25 at UB’s Clinical and Translational Research
Center.

Award recipients will include UB faculty inventors who created
technologies like a skills trainer for robotic surgery, or who
discovered and developed health care breakthroughs like a peptide
from spider venom that could one day help children with muscular
dystrophy live longer.

Of particular note, former UB postdoctoral researcher Laurent
Levy will receive the UB Entrepreneurship Award for founding
Nanobiotix, a Paris, France-based nanomedicine company that
licenses UB technology and raised
more than $18 million in an initial public offering (IPO) last
fall.

Media are welcome to attend this invitation-only event. To make
arrangements, please contact Charlotte Hsu at 716-645-4655 or chsu22@buffalo.edu.

What: Annual UB Inventors and Entrepreneurs Reception

When: 4 to 6 p.m. on Monday, March 25. (Formal program
begins at 4:30 p.m.)

Where: Fifth floor, UB Clinical and Translational
Research Center, 875 Ellicott St., Buffalo. This is the first time
the annual reception will take place in this new downtown
facility.

Closing Remarks: UB Vice President for Research and
Economic Development Alexander N. Cartwright.

Why: This event recognizes thinkers and entrepreneurs who
are helping to build Western New York’s high-tech economy.
The program, including a list of honorees, is available at http://bit.ly/1639i05. Those
recognized will include:

— 10 teams of UB researchers
named on U.S. patents issued in 2012.

— Nine teams of visionary
innovators who developed technologies UB licensed to industrial
partners in 2012.

— Companies that joined or
graduated from UB’s business incubator program in 2012.

— SUNY Distinguished
Professor Vladimir Mitin, Department of Electrical Engineering, who
will receive the UB Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, given each
year to faculty members who found startups. Mitin is founder of
OptoElectronics Nanodevices, which develops and commercializes
novel optoelectronic nanomaterials to enhance the efficiency of
devices such as solar cells and photodetectors.

— Former UB postdoctoral
researcher Laurent Levy, who founded French nanomedicine company
Nanobiotix and will receive the UB Entrepreneurship
Award.

While working in UB’s Institute for Lasers, Photonics and
Biophotonics in the 1990s, Levy partnered with UB and Roswell Park
Cancer Institute colleagues to create two nanomedicine
technologies: magnetic nanoparticles for treatment and diagnosis of
cancer (nanoMag), and laser-activated nanoparticles for cancer
treatment (nanoPDT).

Levy then went on to found Nanobiotix, which was incorporated in
Paris in 2003 and has been primarily funded by European venture
capital firms. Nanobiotix was listed on the NYSE Euronext market
last fall following an IPO that raised gross proceeds of more than
$18 million (14.2 million euros). Since its creation, total
financing of the company is about 40 million euros. The company's
licensing agreement for nanoMag and nanoPDT has brought UB revenues
including royalties that the university uses to enhance its
research programs.

On Tuesday, March 26, in a separate event, Levy will speak to
students in UB’s Entrepreneurship Academy about the founding
of Nanobiotix. His talk, which is free and open to the public, will
explain what Nanobiotix is and tell the story behind its success:
What was done well, what was done wrong, and what was unexpected
and fun along the way. For details on Levy’s talk, visit http://academies.buffalo.edu/news/index.php.

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